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Home , Project Rastko, Serbian language, Serbian literature

Преглед НЦД 24 (2014), 43–49

Tamara Vučenović Faculty of Philology Radio , RTS

SERBIAN DICTIONARY (SRPSKI RJEČNIK), VUK STEFANOVIĆ KARADZIĆ (1818), ON THE INTERNET

Abstract:The paper examines the presence of the first edition of the Dictionary (Srpski rječnik, 1818) by Vuk Stefanović Karadzić on the internet. The author explores the basic forms of presentation of this work, including the news and educational Web sites, giving adresses of web pages dedicated to Srpski rječnik, with brief overview of the importance of this , which many researchers consider one of the most important in the history of Serbian , as well as the main features of electronic lexicography and electronic publishing. The paper explores the possibilities that the internet and new technologies offer in terms of presenting, preserving and nurturing of our tradition and culture. Concrete examples show how to use, in a creative and interesting way, the internet as a platform for exchange and learning. Key words: Serbian dictionary(1818), internet, online, web Ključne reči: Srpski rječnik (1818), internet, onlajn, veb

Introduction: the opportunities of internet presentation for fostering the national culture and tradition

Digitization of national heritage and culture is an obligation that we owe to the future generations. By digitizing, our treasure is being safe from damage and decay, resulting in a form that allows professional processing and multimedia presentation. Digitized adequately represented heritage in the era of computer-oriented companies represents, among other things, a kind of proof of the existence and continuity, providing new opportunities for collaboration with our national communities in the region and abroad, but also with the developed countries. 2002 Archeological Institute SANU, Archives of , Faculty of Mathematics in Belgrade, Serbian National Library, the National Museum and many other institutions of national importance have launched an initiative to establish a National Centre for Digitization1. The center is designed as a place in which is to bring together our leading institutions dealing with culture and science - which will jointly work on the digitization of national heritage. Among NCD projects - and here we can mention - Electronic Catalogue of immovable cultural monuments (spomenicikulture.mi.sanu.ac.rs)2, then - Digitizing and presentation of the medieval Serbian monasteries, a project supported by UNESCO and the

1 http://ncd.org.rs 2 http://spomenicikulture.mi.sanu.ac.rs 44 T. Vučenović

Virtual Library you can easily reach across the front pages of the site of Mathematics, (matf.bg.ac.rs).3 In the virtual library the digitized Serbian dictionary is set entirely, a copy of the library SANU - KARADŽIC, Vuk Stefanović (1787-1864), [Serbian dictionary / collected and released by Vuk Stefanović Karadzić. - In Vienna: gedruckt bei den P. P. Armeniern, 1818]). So, this is an old and rare book that is valuable, among other things, due to the presence of sentences and comments on the pages added by Vuk's hand. These rare specimens of valuable Serbian are no longer possible to be read in libraries. But it is possible to do it on the internet. And that's one of the most important achievements of this medium for the 21st century man. We made available and accessible the oldest part of our past. From the most important NCD publications, we can single out here a journal Review with outstanding professional publications in these fields. IBIS - Internet Library of Serbia for the Humanities and the Arts (also part of the Virtual library on the MF's site) is a project that is being implemented in cooperation with the National Centre for Digitization, within the NCD's Virtual Library project, whose editor is Professor Žarko Mijajlović. The aim of the IBIS is a presentation of Serbian cultural and scientific heritage and current scientific production in the humanities and related sciences to a wider audience - professional and scientific, national and international public. Digitization of national scientific and cultural heritage, again, is of a great importance not only to improve access to these facilities and for international scientific exchange, but also for the preservation of cultural identity, public education in promoting cultural diversity in the European environment. IBIS is a digital collection of research papers with an open (free and direct) approach, carried out in accordance with international standards of European digital library.4

A brief overview of the importance of Serbian dictionary (1818)

Serbian dictionary (Srpski rjecnik) which was published in 1818, as a work in which the Serbian national manifested itself for the first time, is the most important Serbian scientific book of the twentieth century. 5 The development of this major work of our literature, according to the eminent interpreters of , was very long. Vuk Karadzić began to write down words in 1813 in Brza Palanka. According to his own testimony, he did it by his own inner drive, literally out of nothing, 6 and two years later he commenced working on the Serbian Dictionary in Vienna, under the influence of and in cooperation with . In 1818 he published the first edition of Serbian dictionary. Among the other things- this is exactly what Vuk said about his great work – Serbian dictionary is just a foundation for further work in the Serbian lexicography (P. Ivić, Vuk's dictionary from 1818). Analyzing its place in the history of dictionaries, Pavle Ivić draw our attention to a simple but great virtue of this section - Vuk's language and spelling were light, an average Serb was familiar with them. For the educated Europe of the time, the dictionary became a source of knowledge of the . Vuk's preface of the Serbian Dictionary is considered to be the manifesto of the introduction of the vernacular and the new spelling in the Serbian literature. However, the first edition of this work among has never become a standard reference to be consulted about on a daily basis. Serbian dictionary has two releases that could be seen as two separate

3 http://elibrary.matf.bg.ac.rs/handle/123456789/442 4 http://ibis.mi.sanu.ac.rs/index_e.html 5 Popović, M.: 1, Nolit, Belgrade, 1975 6 Karadzić-Stefanović Vuk, Serbian dictionary, Prosveta, Belgrade, 1987

T. Vučenović 45

parts. The second edition, in 1852, was updated and revised in relation to the 1818 release. It is very important that in the first dictionary, as Vuk said, he didn't collect all Serbian words spoken by the people, but he only laid a foundation for their gathering. This book has 26,270 words and it is a true image of Tršić, Vuk's area (.e. East Herzegovinian ). For the science, researchers and people, Serbian dictionary is extremely important and valuable because, for the first time and in one single place, one could find so many words from . Many words from the dictionary have been already forgotten today - grdomajčić, ukobiti se, dzagara, kulača... while many have become archaic - aratos, saborisati, asna, sadzija... Again, for the new notions incurred during the period that divide us from this work's year of creation, a thousand of new words have been created. The lexicology of the Serbian dictionary is constantly in the spotlight of our philologists for a good reason. Serbian dictionary, as a part of the coherent language system, gives us a picture of the material and spiritual culture of the Serbian people since the beginning of the twentieth century. The same lexicology provides an insight into the historical dimension way of the Serbian language throughout the centuries. In the oldest layers of 1818 release, there are visible discerned outlines of an even older world that existed somewhere in human prehistory.

The basic forms of digital presentation of the Vuk Karadzić Serbian dictionary

1. Informative sites (the information and digital recording of a literary work). Vuk Stefanović Karadzić's Serbian dictionary from 1818 is presented on the internet in various ways. However, this major work of Serbian culture is not sufficiently or adequately represented on the global computer network. The most common sites and portals are those where the user is being provided with basic information about the area, and there is a shorter or longer biography of the author himself. These sites can be analysed as a primarily informative, although, to some extent, they can be educational when offer the extended information to the user or suggest the places where she/he can be supplemented with the basic knowledge.

The examples: 1) The National library of Serbia7 2) (The library of Serbian culture on the Internet) 8 3) Wikipedia9

The collection of Vuk Stefanović Karadzić is being kept in Digital National Library of Serbia. The collection includes 30 digital copies of original editions of Vuk Karadzić (1787-1864) from the fund of Old and rare books of NBS. Much of the collection is about the Serbian language and spelling, whose reformer was Vuk himself. The famous publications are - The dictionary of Serbian language (1814), Serbian dictionary (1818), Serbian dictionary (1852), as well as Karadzić's translation of the New Testament (1847). Serbian dictionary from the 1818 can be read on the internet. Digitization of the books and a global computer network, the World's and European projects dedicated to the digitization of national heritage

7 http://serbiaforum.mi.sanu.ac.rs/Webbook.jsp 8 http://www.rastko.rs 9 http://sr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vuk_Stefanovic_Karadžic

46 T. Vučenović

and culture, such as the European Digital Library (theeuropeanlibrary.org), or the World Digital Library (wdl.org) - they all represent a milestone in the work of these important cultural institutions. The international cooperation in the age of digitization provided a number of new possibilities for the Serbian heritage and culture to promote and be shown on the international stage. Actually, the digital presentation on the internet has a special significance in the time of economic crisis, when there is not enough money for the visits of our scientists and creators to the other countries. These opportunities and resources should be adequately used for the presentation, exploration and preservation of Serbian dictionary,as well. Rastko Project. The Library of Serbian culture on the internet is completely devoted to electronic publishing and archiving of scientific and artistic works on the World Wide Web, which belongs to the Serbian and related cultures in order to make these works - especially those in the public domain - accessible in complete form and under an expert supervision. The chief editor of the project, Zoran Stefanović, launched the site Rastko in February in 1998 and then was among the first who began to represent his country on the internet in such a comprehensive manner. His motives were completely voluntary. The objectives of the project are - free access to all users, preservation and development of the Cyrillic in setting of the global informational civilization, the building of bridges among the parent and other cultures. Some of the most important tasks you have set for yourself are - creating an electronic library of Serbian culture, the affirmation of the insufficiently valorized opuses, the area or period of our heritage and tradition. On the website of the Rastko project one can find the information about Vuk Karadzić, his reformist work and Serbian Dictionary in the digitized Short history of the Serbian literature by prof. dr. Jovan Deretić. Although Dictionary is not fully set at the aforementioned address - one needs mention some of the Karadzić's books that we read on this address - under the common title of Vuk's and other collections of oral literature - Serbian Folk Songs (1845) and Serbian Folk Tales (1821, 1853, 1870). Although the site provides only basic information about the dictionary and the circumstances of the creation of this lexicographic work, it is very important as a starting point for the research of the presence of our culture, science and art on the internet. A number of the recommended links - like projects Rastko Gračanica - Peć, Rastko-Timisoara etc., and many other articles on the history of Serbian culture (al), as well as the interesting libraries in other areas - theology, drama and theater, music, film etc., are a veritable treasury of information about the Serbian cultural heritage. is a free content encyclopedia that anyone can read and edit. The project was launched in January 15, 2001 in the English language and is based on the belief that everyone has some knowledge that can share with the others. Wikipedia Endowment, headquartered in the , is the umbrella organization of Wikimedia and its projects. Ever since 2007, the Wikimedia is each year among ten most visited websites in the world. Determinant of Vuk Stefanović Karadzić at Wikimedia was solidly covered with photos of Vuk, photos of his native house then and now, the tomb where he was buried, Tršić, headlines of the Serbian dictionary and monuments. For this type of presentation, the bodies of following are being handled in a very detailed manner - Vuk's work, resume, collecting materials for the Dictionary and a collection of poetry and short stories, philological work and influences. Multimedia, interactivity and hypertextuality are the main characteristics of the benchmark devoted to Vuk Karadzić and his lexicographic work on the Wikimedia website. In this web presentation with photos, the audio and video recordings are being used. In addition, it is possible to click on a particular word in the text by using controller - read elsewhere more information about the particular term. Of course, people are also involved - T. Vučenović 47

more precisely – they are invited to arrange and edit articles for which they believe that are not true or accurate enough.

2. Educational and interactive websites and social networks (e.g. Reklakaza.la website and Facebook). In addition to the aforementioned sites, there are web sites whose nature is primarily educational. The example of Reklakaza.la site10, a group devoted to Vuk's Dictionary on Facebook and Transpoetry, the Centre for Digital Humanities project, are good examples. Transpoetry, is a creation among the different and worlds, a designation that translates itself from one to the other side of no man's land, a fictional atlas of interlanguage plungings into the secret of meaning 11(CDHN web site presentation). Each dictionary is a record of the period in which incurred. Considering that we do not know enough either about our national history nor Vuk Stefanović Karadžic's Serbian Dictionary from 1818, Toma Tasovac and Centre for Digital Humanities launched a web site Reklakaza.la. CDHN started using this site to publish a selected heading from the Vuk's 1818 Serbian dictionary on a daily basis. Visitors to the website can analyse and comment on articles, add their own examples of interesting and archaic words, ask questions and participate in the discussion. Wanting to address the youngest ones primarily, they founded their own group on the most popular social networks - Facebook and Twitter.

The examples of foreign correspodence on facebook page Reklakaza.la:

1.The examples of messaging in which the meanings of the same or similar words are being added:

Krčma (pub) pub, f. 1) die Schenke, caupona. [See inn]. In Serbia, Bosnia, and in Herzegovina, the pubs have been mentioned almost exclusively in folk songs, as there were not any in the country except in some cities (i.e. in Sarajevo), and in Serbia by the Sava and the Danube rivers, or...

Danilo Borjan The full, almost touching explanation :)

Sonja Bečejski I liked the word POUŽINATI (to have a bit of snack...) :-) So much nicer word than (cafe)!

Crepulja Saša cafe, coffee shop / cafe, bircuz, pub, or simply BAR with capital letters

Lidija Kostic In the south of Serbia, when something good happens to someone (when he/she becomes a parent, his/hers child finishes school, etc.), the people say: The inn is yours which means: It's your treat.

Ranka Djuka Petrovic The tavern... but also krčmiti, krčmim, krčmiš, krčmimo... (to spend, I spend, you spend, we spend)

10 http://reklakaza.la 11 http://www.humanistika.org 48 T. Vučenović

3. The axample where the meaning of arhaic words or expressions that are not in Serbian dicitonary are being looked for: Ćereslo Branislav Šuvaković - is there an explanation for the word ćereslo and doohickey?

Momčilo Janjičić In Mačva, they say ćereslo for some unknown object.

Goran Radičević Ćereslo is (in some parts of Serbia) the so-called stealing of wood, e.g. a dealer's profit on the difference when you sell 0.75 cubic meters, saying that there's a whole cubic meter of wood! It is derived from the word Ceres, which I suppose means interest!

4. The example in wich the etymological interpretation of the words is given: sok, sokodržica, sodžbina Sok, m. 1) (in ) Those who find a thief who stole something, or did some thing evil, Ausfinder. [Cf. zog]. When something is stolen from anyone, he reveals what he will give to the one who finds the thief (and what he gives is called sodžbina). Sok is a motif for dealing with the thief...

Snežana Petrović Here are some interesting etymological stuff related to this somewhat archaic group of words. They are native to the Indo-European and , and basically there meaning is to say, to tell, hence to show. The thief, in the case of Vuk. On the Slavic plan, they are related to the Bulgarian and Macedonian word sakam (I ask, I want, I love), while on the Indo- European and the Greek plan they are related to enepo (I do storytelling) - that is, with our and international epics...

Conclusion: In the paper Vuk's online dictionary one segment of the global computer network is reviewed, as well as the presentation and promotion of Serbian culture (on the example of Serbian dictionary) on it. Many questions can be linked with the topic and illuminated from a completely different angle. For example - the question of authorship in the digital age and copyrights on the Internet, digital literacy, ethical issues, features of democracy on the one hand and total control of the cyber world, on the other hand, etc... Then, with all the benefits of new technologies that were the subject of this work - there is a number of limitations and disadvantages, which we should bear in mind. Computer networks and systems are still not sufficiently protected and safe places, a limited number of households in Serbia has DSL connections that provide fast access to the Internet, screen reading has its very obvious limitations, the communication among people in the real world can not replace communication in the virtual world, it only constitutes its amendment, and so on. Available technologies obviously enable enthusiasts and experts from various fields in the 21st century to contribute to the spread of knowledge and promotion of the education in the digital age, from their own room and using their own effort, minimal financial resources and some computer equipment (which experiences a price drop from one day to another). Long distance learning, for example, grew from being one of the pioneering projects intended for a small number of interested parties (at the beginning of this century) to become a T. Vučenović 49

compulsory or elective curricula for most of the educational and scientific institutions around the world. The advantages of graduating using a global computer network are numerous - time and money savings, lower tuition rates, easier and faster communication in the teacher- student relationship, access of all available sources of literature, e-books, electronic libraries and archives - each of this at any time of day or night, from anywhere in the world, and so on. The social networks are the individuals or groups linked by a common status, similar functions and other cultural similarities and common interests on the Internet and we should use, in the good and educational sense of this word - the radical revolution in communication among people that these popular networks brought in 21th century. At the end - What makes a good and high quality web site that represents a platform for sharing and learning? Quality educational content website should fulfill all the criteria that apply to other legitimate contents presented on the web - it should be clear, easily accessible and searchable, easy to handle and find (large number of keywords in some of the world's web browsers), of reliable and critically presented contents and quality web design. However, sites with educational content have a very difficult task that most other sites do not have - a complex and serious subjects should be made closer to a wide range of audiences and make them interesting. In the times of entertainment industry's reign, this task is not easy to do.

References

1.Popović, M.: Romanticism 1, Nolit, Belgrade, 1975. 2.Karadzić-Stefanović Vuk, Serbian dictionary, Prosveta, Belgrade, 1987. 3.Karadzić-Stefanović Vuk, etnographic publications, About Montenegro, Prosveta-Nolit, Belgrade, 1987 4.Karadzić-Stefanović Vuk, Serbian dictionary, Prosveta, Belgrade, 1987 5.Popovic, M.: Romanticism 1, Nolit, Belgrade, 1975 6.Popovic, Miodrag: Antiquity, Vuk Karadzic's Serbian dictionary, Institute for textbook publishing and teaching aids, Belgrade, Belgrade, 1983

Links: http://ncd.org.rs http://spomenicikulture.mi.sanu.ac.rs http://elibrary.matf.bg.ac.rs/handle/123456789/442 http://ibis.mi.sanu.ac.rs/index_e.html http://reklakaza.la http://www.humanistika.org